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Friday, July 15, 2016

Cardboard Camp DIY

Cardboard Camp DIY

DIY Project: 3-D House

Did you know that you can create your own city in The DoSeum? You can! In our Megalopolis exhibit you get to choose where you want different buildings to go. It is this exhibit that serves as the inspiration for a project in Cardboard Camp, where campers collaborate to construct a miniature city. Additionally, kids do activities that revolve around making two-dimensional and three-dimensional pieces.

The class is taught by Orlando Graves Bolaños, our arts education manager. Along with learning how to use their fine motor skills, campers are also introduced to new materials and new ways of making things. “Paper becomes sort of this fluid instrument that allows kids to play both on two-dimensional--to paint with it or to cut it--and three-dimensional by folding and manipulating,” said Orlando.

Over the course of a week, campers create pieces that showcase their newly discovered talents and end up with multiple finished products. Monday’s activity tends to be given with more instruction. As the week progresses, kids are encouraged to come up with and implement their own designs. “It grows from ‘Let me just do a photocopy cutout’ to ‘I’m actually designing this house and I’m gonna start off with these 2D plans, but then I’m cut it out and manipulate it to make something that’s my own design,’” said Orlando.

While the camp is geared toward group projects rather than individual work, Orlando says there is time throughout the week for campers to do some individual painting and take something home with them. In this Cardboard Camp, kids find that there’s power in collectively building something together with peers. “I think the experience of contributing, of having to ask your classmate, your fellow camper, asking them to borrow the scissors--all of those opportunities through the dynamic of creating something help you to practice your social skills,” Orlando said. “That’s something that’s very important for me in the classroom.”

After you're done coloring your little house, tape or glue it to another piece of paper and create a neighborhood for your house to be in. It doesn't have to be a normal neighborhood. You can make it a tree house in the jungle, a house in outer space, or anything else you come up with. The point of this activity is to be creative and to get familiar with 3D shapes. As you can see in our example, we made a 3D tree by drawing out a tree, cutting it out, and folding the bottom part back. Make other 3D figures to go on your project!